The Fields
At a Glance
The information you need to decide whether this home warrants a closer look.
Nursing homes
Staff warmth score
of reviewers answered yes
Good to know
- Registered beds54
- SpecialismsDementia, Learning disabilities, Physical disabilities, Sensory impairment
- Last inspected2020-04-22
- Activities programmeThe home keeps its premises clean and properly maintained, creating suitable surroundings for residents with different mobility and sensory needs.
- Visit Website
The Evidence
What the review data, the inspection reports, and the dementia-care evidence base tell us about this home.
What families say
Based on 9 Google reviews · 0 reviews on carehome.co.uk · most recent 2026-04-10
The eight family priority themes
- Staff warmth72
- Compassion & dignity72
- Cleanliness70
- Activities & engagement65
- Food quality65
- Healthcare70
- Management & leadership73
- Resident happiness70
What inspectors found
Inspected 2020-04-22 · Report published 2020-04-22 · Inspected 3 times in the last three years
Is this home safe?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for safety at the May 2025 inspection. The published summary does not include specific detail about staffing ratios, medicines management, falls monitoring, or infection control practices. A registered manager is in post, which supports governance continuity. No concerns or breaches were recorded in the safety domain. Beyond the Good rating itself, the inspection provides limited evidence to assess day-to-day safety in specific detail.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"A Good safety rating is reassuring, but the detail that really matters for your parent is what happens at night and how the home responds when something goes wrong. Our review data shows that night staffing is the point where safety most often slips in care homes, yet this inspection does not record how many staff are on overnight in a 54-bed nursing home with a dementia specialism. Good Practice research from the IFF and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review confirms that agency staff reliance undermines the consistency that people with dementia depend on most, so that is worth asking about directly. The Good rating in Safe tells you the inspectors found no significant concerns, but it does not tell you what a Tuesday night at 2am looks like for your parent.","evidence_base":"The IFF Research and Leeds Beckett University rapid evidence review found that night staffing levels are one of the most consistent predictors of safety in care homes, and that inconsistent staffing through agency use is particularly disruptive for people with dementia who rely on familiar faces.","watch_out":"Ask the manager to show you last week's actual staffing rota, not a template, and count how many permanent staff versus agency staff were on overnight. For a 54-bed home with a dementia specialism, ask specifically how many staff are on duty on the dementia unit after 9pm."}
Is the care effective?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for effectiveness at the May 2025 inspection. The published summary does not include specific detail about care plan content, GP access arrangements, dementia training, or how food quality and dietary needs are managed. The home is registered as a nursing home, meaning qualified nurses should be present, but no staffing detail is provided. No concerns or breaches were recorded in this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Effectiveness in a care home with a dementia specialism should mean that staff are trained to understand how dementia changes communication, behaviour, and physical health needs, and that care plans are updated regularly as your parent's needs change. Our review data highlights that healthcare access (20.2% of family reviews) and food quality (20.9%) are among the themes families mention most. Neither is addressed in specific detail in these published findings. The Good Practice evidence base is clear that care plans should be living documents reviewed at least monthly for people with complex needs, not filed and forgotten. Ask the home how often they review plans and whether families are invited to contribute.","evidence_base":"The IFF and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that care plans functioning as living documents, reviewed regularly and with family input, are a key marker of effective dementia care, and that dementia-specific training for all staff (not just senior staff) significantly improves outcomes.","watch_out":"Ask to see the training log for dementia care and find out when the last whole-team dementia training session took place. Then ask how often your parent's care plan would be reviewed and whether you would be invited to contribute to that review."}
Is this home caring?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for caring at the May 2025 inspection. No specific inspector observations about staff warmth, use of preferred names, response to distress, or the pace of care appear in the published summary. No concerns were recorded in this domain. The absence of specific detail means it is not possible to confirm what caring practice looks like in day-to-day interactions at this home beyond the Good rating itself.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Staff warmth is the single biggest driver of family satisfaction across our review data, mentioned in 57.3% of positive reviews, and compassion and dignity follow closely at 55.2%. These are not abstract values but observable behaviours: does a staff member knock before entering your parent's room, do they use the name your parent prefers, do they sit down and make eye contact rather than talking across someone? The Good Practice evidence highlights that non-verbal communication matters as much as words for people with advanced dementia. Because this inspection contains no specific observations about these behaviours, the only way to assess them is to visit and watch. Arrive unannounced if you can, or ask if you can visit at a meal or personal care time.","evidence_base":"The IFF and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that person-led care requires genuine knowledge of the individual, and that non-verbal communication (tone, touch, pace) is as important as verbal communication for people with dementia, particularly in mid-to-late stages.","watch_out":"On your visit, stand in a corridor for ten minutes and watch how staff move and speak. Are they hurried or unhurried? Do they make eye contact with residents they pass, or look through them? Ask a staff member what your parent's preferred name is and how they would know that on their first shift."}
Is the home responsive?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for responsiveness at the May 2025 inspection. No specific detail about the activities programme, one-to-one engagement, end-of-life care planning, or how individual preferences are reflected in daily life appears in the published summary. The home serves people with dementia, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and sensory impairments, meaning responsiveness to individual need is especially important. No concerns were recorded in this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Responsiveness means your parent has a life here, not just a safe place to stay. Our review data shows that resident happiness (27.1% of reviews) and activities and engagement (21.4%) are important to families, and Good Practice research is clear that group activities alone are not sufficient for people with advanced dementia. One-to-one engagement, including familiar everyday tasks, sensory activities, and conversation, makes a measurable difference to wellbeing and can reduce distress behaviours. The published findings give no detail on what actually happens in a day for a resident at The Fields. This is one of the most important gaps to fill on a visit.","evidence_base":"The IFF and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found strong evidence that tailored one-to-one activities, including Montessori-based approaches and familiar household tasks, improve wellbeing and reduce distress in people with dementia, particularly those who cannot engage with group programmes.","watch_out":"Ask the activities coordinator to show you last week's actual activity records, not a planned schedule, and ask specifically what would happen for your parent on a day when they did not want to join a group activity. Find out whether a member of staff would spend time with them one-to-one and what that would look like."}
Is the home well-led?
{"found":"The home was rated Good for well-led at the May 2025 inspection. Mrs Anne-Marie Williams is the registered manager and Mr Barnaby Charles Cunningham is the nominated individual for the provider, Cygnet Learning Disabilities Midlands Limited. No specific detail about management visibility, staff culture, governance processes, or how the home responds to complaints and incidents appears in the published summary. No concerns were recorded in this domain.","quotes":[],"family_meaning":"Good leadership in a care home is visible: the manager knows residents by name, staff feel able to raise concerns without fear, and the home improves when things go wrong rather than covering them up. Our review data shows that management quality (23.4% of positive reviews) and communication with families (11.5%) are meaningful to families. Good Practice research shows that leadership stability predicts the quality trajectory of a home over time, so it is worth asking how long the current manager has been in post and whether they plan to stay. The home is part of a larger provider group, which can bring training resources but also means the manager may face pressure from above that is not always visible to families.","evidence_base":"The IFF and Leeds Beckett rapid evidence review found that leadership stability is one of the strongest predictors of sustained care quality, and that a culture where staff can speak up without fear is associated with better outcomes for residents.","watch_out":"Ask the manager how long they have been in this role and how long most of the senior care staff have worked at the home. Ask how families are informed when something goes wrong with their parent's care, and ask for an example of something the home changed in the last year because of feedback from a resident or family member."}
Source: CQC inspection report →
What the evidence base says
Against the DCC Good Practice in Dementia Care standards, this home’s evidence aligns most strongly on The Fields supports people with sensory impairments, learning disabilities and physical disabilities. The home also provides specialist dementia care.. Gaps or open questions remain on For residents living with dementia, the home offers specialist support alongside care for other complex needs. Staff engage with external training to develop their understanding of dementia care approaches. — areas worth probing directly during a visit.
The DCC Verdict
Our editorial view, built from the three lenses: what families tell us, what inspectors record, and how the home sits against good dementia-care practice.
DCC Family Score
The Fields was rated Good across all five inspection domains in May 2025, which is a positive baseline. However, the published report contains very limited specific detail, so scores reflect confirmed Good ratings rather than rich observational evidence.
Homes in Yorkshire & Humberside typically score 68–82.Worth a visit
The Fields, on Spa Lane in Sheffield, was inspected in May 2025 and rated Good in every domain: Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive, and Well-led. The home is a 54-bed nursing home registered to care for people with dementia, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, and sensory impairments. A registered manager, Mrs Anne-Marie Williams, is named and in post, which is a positive sign. The organisation running the home is Cygnet Learning Disabilities Midlands Limited. The main limitation of this report is that the published findings contain very little specific detail beyond the Good ratings themselves. There are no inspector observations, no resident or relative quotes, and no specific examples of what good care looks like day-to-day at this home. Before you make a decision, visit in person and use the checklist questions below. Specifically, ask about night staffing numbers, how dementia training is delivered to staff, how the home communicates with families when something changes, and whether your parent would have access to one-to-one activities if group sessions are not suitable.
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In Their Own Words
How The Fields describes itself — collected from its own website. DCC has not edited or independently verified the content in this tab.
Sheffield care home supporting residents with complex needs
Dedicated nursing home Support in Sheffield
When you're looking for specialist care, finding somewhere that truly understands different support needs matters. The Fields in Sheffield provides care for people with sensory impairments, learning disabilities, physical disabilities and dementia. The home maintains clean, well-kept surroundings suitable for residents with varying support requirements.
Who they care for
The Fields supports people with sensory impairments, learning disabilities and physical disabilities. The home also provides specialist dementia care.
For residents living with dementia, the home offers specialist support alongside care for other complex needs. Staff engage with external training to develop their understanding of dementia care approaches.
Management & ethos
The staff team shows willingness to learn and develop their skills through external training. They work with outside professionals to enhance their understanding of resident care.
The home & environment
The home keeps its premises clean and properly maintained, creating suitable surroundings for residents with different mobility and sensory needs.
“If you're considering The Fields, arranging a visit will help you see how they support residents with different care needs.”
DCC does not edit or curate content in this tab. For independently curated information, see The Evidence and DCC Verdict.
